A Template of Sorts

So today in class we laid out what we had and tried to make a sensible flow of it all.

I had gone back through some of the systems theory reading and old blog posts and I felt that a few of the quotes would really help us establish a template.

For example, from Mutual Causality:

"The processes by which the system sustains and creates order in Fleiss-Gleichgewicht are seen as twofold. One is homeostatic, whereby the continuity of structure or pattern is maintained. The other is self-organizing, whereby the structure is modified, its organization increased. In this complexification the system moves toward greater improbability and variety."

"An open system is characterized by what von Bertalanffy termed Fliess·Gleichgewicht, which
means "steady state", or literally, "flux-balance." Flux is stressed because the system is in a continual state of inflow and outflow; never in chemical or thermodynamic equilibrium, its substance is continually altered by interacting events."

"As patterns interact, their interaction spawns new features,
new properties."

"Changing conditions, however, can produce a persisting mis-match between perception and construction."

"In order to make the new data meaningful and usable, new constructs are evolved."

"The system maintains its dynamic equilibrium by looking ahead . It keeps its balance not by standing still, subsiding into stasis, but by moving forward, projecting its constructs into the future."

Also, lets not forget about some of the key things we wanted to focus on:
+ Cataloging/re-cataloging as a tool to explore systems from multiple perspectives
+ Creating complexified systems by adding inputs to challenge classic constructs—examining hybrids
+ Seeking points where tension of interaction occurs, and applying those points to new systems

That said, here's the template we came up with:

INTRO
--Background
--Definitions (classic, hybrid, catalog, etc)
--General systems theory explanation (include statements above)
--Include our preliminary work, pictures of the hybrid game, etc.


CATALOG:
--This is the control of the experiment, the subject itself, a sort of map key. For mine, I laid out every chair in my inventory, gave brief info and statistics about it and made them baseball card size (since we mentioned how cool those baseball card holders can be)(see below). Elsa will be creating something similar detailing typical Taiwanese icons (pics of grandma fabric, Tapei 101, etc) This is what I see as the homeostatic part of our system.

PROCESS:
--This is where we show the work we've done this semester. For my section, it would be all of the charts cataloged and re-cataloged. For Elsa, it would be showing some of the influences/inputs into Taiwan and showing the results. This is the section that the homeostasis (catalog) structure is modified which will lead our catalog system to greater improbability and variety. Here we can get pretty creative with the way we display our work. Elsa is considering creating a sort of children's book template where you can match the influences to the result. I am considering printing on different kinds of paper like vellum, colors, kraft paper in order to overlay and show possibilities of combining and hybridizing the information in the graphs. This shows how our patterns interact and can be continually altered by interacting events.


FUTURE SCENARIOS/USER INTERACTION:
--Hopefully the way we set up the process portion will allow for user interaction and the re-imagination of our systems. This is where the system should be projecting its constructs into the future. What happens if we combine this and that? If ___ led to ___, what would ___ + ___ lead to? This is where we need to figure out if our subjects can cross-pollinate.

So, clearly we have a lot to do. What we didn't talk about today was a kit holder/physical organization for this system. Also, perhaps we can have some sort of symbol/typeface/whatever that starts in the intro and weaves throughout to tie all of our subjects together. We also need to agree upon a time/times to meet again. Thursday at 6pm is looking tough now, and the weekend is best for Elsa. I have no major commitments in the next few days to worry about, so whatever works for you guys works for me, except for Monday night. So lets get emailing in the next few days and figure it out!
See you soon.